


The Scars Inside

by Sauronix



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M, Pre-Relationship, Rated T for profanity, Soft Kisses, but i guess it could be g, defensive gladio, it's very tame, shameless fluff, some guy insults ignis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 18:17:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10859439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sauronix/pseuds/Sauronix
Summary: Written for the following prompt on the kinkmeme:Some idiot is freaked out and/or disgusted by the really big scar over [Ignis's] left eye and feels the need to ask him very pointedly why he doesn't cover it up with a patch or something (to spare everyone from having to see it). Ignis doesn't know what he looks like now, and no one's ever said anything like that to him, and he feels self-conscious about it.Naturally, Gladio comes to his defense.





	The Scars Inside

“Excuse me.”  
  
The voice, coloured with hostility, comes from somewhere to Ignis’s left. It belongs to a man. Without his eyes, that’s about all Ignis can deduce about him, so he doesn’t acknowledge the voice. Not because he’s trying to be rude, but because they’re in Altissia and he doesn’t know anyone here, much less anyone who would speak to him in such a tone. Especially not in the corner store around the block from their hotel, where he’s minding his own business while Gladio buys medication for Noct.  
  
He just assumes the voice is addressing someone else.  
  
He continues to stand where Gladio left him, trailing the fingers of his right hand over the bananas on the table next to him. Though they might not actually be bananas. They could be plantains, or perhaps some other exotic fruit he’s never encountered. In his blindness, he has to reconstruct the physical world using touch alone. There’s so much room for error.  
  
A hand grabs his arm, fingers digging painfully into the meat of his bicep. “Hey, buddy. I’m talking to you.”  
  
Startled, Ignis doesn’t at first know how to respond. He’s never been accosted like this before, especially not in public. He opens his mouth, then closes it again, before opening it again to say, “Me?”  
  
“You can’t just walk around looking like that.”  
  
_Looking like…what?_  
  
His pulse quickens. He swallows hard, his tongue feeling altogether too large for his mouth, and says, “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”  
  
“Don’t give me that. You know what I mean. Your scars.” The man releases his arm. “They’re disgusting.”  
  
_Disgusting?_ Instinctively, Ignis raises a hand and runs it over the bubbling scab on his cheekbone. He knows it’s bad. He knew it was bad the moment he opened his eyes and saw only darkness, when he felt only blistering pain on the left side of his face. He knew it the moment Gladio’s tears dripped onto his cheek when he broke the news about Ignis’s injuries.  
  
He knew it was bad. But not so bad as to be disgusting.  
  
“You’re scaring people,” the man goes on. “No one wants to look at that. You need to wear an eyepatch or—”  
  
“Hey!” Gladio’s voice, very close, although Ignis barely hears him over the buzzing in his ears. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”  
  
“I’m just saying what everyone’s thinking!”  
  
“Yeah? I somehow doubt anyone here is that much of an asshole.”  
  
“Come on, man, have you gotten a good look at him? He looks like a freak!”  
  
There comes the meaty smack of a fist hitting a face, a chorus of horrified cries, a crash, the sound of dozens of cardboard boxes raining onto the tiled floor.  
  
Normally, Ignis would intervene. But now he’s hardly listening. He staggers from the corner store, pain blooming in his shoulder as it meets the doorframe on the way out. Clasping it with one hand, he walks through the wreckage of Altissia. He doesn’t know where he’s going. He doesn’t know if people are staring at him. For all he knows, he could be at the edge of the sidewalk. One false step could take him right into the canal.  
  
_You’re scaring people._  
  
_No one wants to look at that._  
  
_He looks like a freak._  
  
His foot catches on a piece of rubble and he stumbles. He throws his hands out, fully expecting to face plant right there in the street, to sprawl on the cobblestones as everyone around him gawks at his monstrous face. Wouldn’t that be a fitting end to this afternoon’s outing? But someone catches him before he can fall. From the warm scent of leather that envelops him, he knows it’s Gladio.  
  
“Easy, there,” Gladio murmurs, putting an arm around his shoulder. “You can’t just run off on me like that. Here. There’s a bench. Let’s take a breather for a second.”  
  
Gladio walks him up onto the sidewalk and they sit together, their thighs touching. Ignis realizes, with a start, that Gladio hasn’t withdrawn his arm from around his shoulders. Gladio has never comforted him like this before, has never touched him beyond a guiding hand on his back.  
  
But he finds he doesn’t mind it.  
  
“Are you okay?” Gladio asks.  
  
“I’m fine,” Ignis says. “I just didn’t know…” He swallows, the insults echoing again in his head. There’s no reason he should be getting so worked up about this. He’s always taken care with his appearance, but he isn’t vain. “…that my face is frightening to others.”  
  
“Don’t tell me you’re taking that dickhead seriously.”  
  
“Was he wrong?”  
  
“Hell, yeah, he’s wrong,” Gladio says, his voice heated. “It’s just a scar, Iggy. I’ve got ‘em too.”  
  
Ignis shakes his head. “Not like mine.”  
  
“Listen to me.” Gladio’s hand slips down to his arm, turning him so they’re facing each other. At least Ignis thinks they’re facing each other. He can’t say for sure. “Those scars on your face are there because you risked your life to help people. What was that asshole doing when the Niffs attacked? Probably hiding under his bed.”  
  
“Gladio…”  
  
“You’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.”  
  
Ignis bites his lip. “All the same, perhaps I should get an eyepatch.”  
  
“Why would you do that?”  
  
“He said no one wants to look at me.”  
  
Gladio growls in frustration. “Do you think my scars make me ugly?”  
  
“No, but—”  
  
“ _I_ want to look at you, Ignis.” Gladio’s hand tightens on his arm, as if he’s trying to convince Ignis that his words are sincere. And so they must be. Gladio only ever uses Ignis’s full name when he’s being dead serious. “You’re the best person I know.” His thumb strokes the scar tissue under Ignis’s eye, gently, like he knows it’s still tender. “Look. I’m not disgusted.”  
  
“I don’t want to make people uncomfortable, Gladio.”  
  
Gladio’s hand falls away. “Why? It’s their problem, not yours.”  
  
“All the same, Gladio, it’s only courteous…”  
  
“C’mon, Iggy, you never cared what people thought before.”  
  
For that, Ignis has no answer. Perhaps the stress of the past week and a half has taken its toll on him. Perhaps he cares more about his appearance than he thought. Whatever the case, he feels more vulnerable now than he has in a long while.  
  
“Ignis.” Gladio’s hands cup his face, tilting it up. Soft lips press against the ruins of his eye, just at the edge of the socket, where the scarring is the most severe. They move to the cut on his nose, then to the one on his right eyebrow. Ignis finds himself aching for Gladio to kiss his lips, where the last scar lies, but it never comes. “You’re still a babe. Don’t let anyone make you think otherwise.”  
  
Ignis lets out the breath he was holding, his cheeks flushing with heat. He’s too stunned to process what Gladio’s kisses might mean. “I can certainly try,” he says faintly.  
  
“Guess that’s better than nothing.” Ignis can hear the smile in his voice. He lets Gladio take him by the arm and raise him from the bench. “Now, c’mon. Noct’s waiting. Let’s get back to the hotel.”

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd and unedited. Apologies for grammatical, characterization, and pacing errors. And pardon the ending.
> 
> As usual, if you enjoyed this, please consider leaving kudos or dropping me a comment! I appreciate them more than you know. They keep me going. Thank you! :)


End file.
